The weather in Port Vostochny in September is still very cold, with bitter southwesterly winds often reaching level 6 or higher. Even if you are wearing the warmest army 34-year-old winter uniform in the East Coast Republic of China, you can still feel the biting chill that seems to be everywhere in the cold wind.

This is not the season for long voyages, both for merchant ships coming from afar and for the warships of the East Coast Republics themselves. But there are always exceptions, and in today's No. 1 military dock in Vostochny Harbor, a tall double-deck warship is quietly docked.

A bunch of Admiralty officers walked up and down the deck, occasionally caressing the broadside railings. After nearly 18 months of hard work by hundreds of shipyard craftsmen and twice as many shipyard workers, the lead ship of the "10 August" class battleship, the 34.5-meter-long and 9.5-meter-wide double-deck battleship named the "10 August", was finally completed.

The ship has a total of four masts, a speed of 6 knots, a displacement of 920 tons, a draft of about 4 meters, and the entire part below the waterline is covered with copper skin. The ship has a capacity of 350 men and is equipped with 16 32-pounder long-barreled guns, 16 24-pounder long-barreled heavy guns, 16 18-pounder long-barreled/short-barreled guns, 12 12-pounder long-barreled/short-barreled guns, and 6 8-pounder short-barreled guns, a total of 66 all-steel guns.

Whether it is the tonnage and speed of the battleship, or the number, caliber and range of the artillery, this battleship is second to none in the South Atlantic and the South Pacific. In order to gather the guns needed for the battleships, arms exports were almost completely suspended again in the past few months, and the vast majority of steel production was used to cast cannons.

Compared with the battleship "August 10", the "San Lorenzo" and the "Rock of Cádiz" of the Spanish Peruvian fleet were overshadowed, and in addition to the tonnage of the battleship, they were completely defeated in terms of the speed and firepower of the battleship.

There is no doubt that the captain of the ship is Lu Ming, who has just been promoted to Naval Cadet, and the first mate, second officer, chief navigator, boatswain, chief gunner, and junior officers in various positions have caused fierce competition among the officers and men of the Navy and a group of staff officers of the Admiralty. Moreover, the quota of 350 people for this warship is not easy to raise, because it almost makes the navy expand by about half.

At present, the only way is to recruit skilled sailors from various ships, add some well-screened and more reliable pirates, and recruit some new people for the rest, so as to strengthen training with the old and the new, and strive to form combat effectiveness at an early date. As for the vacancies formed by the transfer of personnel from each battleship, new people can only be recruited for retraining.

"66 guns, what a salvo would be." This is a staff officer of the Admiralty who has fallen into a fantasy.

"What a windy thing it should be to drive such a powerful warship and block it outside people's ports, so that those small sampans don't dare to leave the port." This is a second officer of the Admiralty with a serious tendency to attack.

"How much does it cost to shoot a salvo?" Someone poured cold water, "Brother, I can't beat it without twenty or thirty yuan." Nima, these five rounds of salvos cost more than 100 yuan, and generally speaking, if these five rounds of salvos are unlucky, they may not hit a few shots. This cannon, sure enough, is money. ”

"What are you afraid of spending money?" Some people were not convinced, "With such a good warship, don't be too sharp to grab those merchant ships." The firepower is so strong, and the speed is so fast, it is impossible to miss any ship. ”

"Don't talk nonsense, look, the national flag and the naval flag are raised for the first time on the mainmast flagpole today, everyone is silent."

……

This is what Julian Pasquier saw when the Pasquier family's armed merchant ships, the Butterfly and the Nightingale, entered the commercial docks of Port Orient under the command of a pilot. In fact, not only did he see it, but almost all the crew and passengers of the two merchant ships saw it.

With its towering deck, huge sails, dense gun windows and bright flags, Pasquier couldn't help but sigh when he saw this scene, even in France, there are only a handful of such powerful warships. Probably, France simply did not have such a powerful double-deck battleship. Julian suddenly felt that the country in front of him, which was full of vitality and thriving like the rising sun, was not something he could easily bargain with.

At this time, Xu Xin and the others stood on the foredeck of the "Butterfly" with great excitement, raising their heads and saluting the "10 August." After a few months of solitude, they learned more than anyone how important it is to have a strong homeland behind them. And the battleship, which is an important weapon of the country, is a direct manifestation of the country's strength.

After the two French merchant ships docked at the commercial wharf, Pasquier and the others went to the commercial hotel outside the wharf to wait for the reception of the diplomatic officials of the East Coast Republic of China. On the way to the hotel, two bodies dangling from the gallows on the side of the road attracted the attention of Julian and others. After inquiry, it was learned that these were two Spanish spies who intended to spy on the intelligence of the arsenal of the Republic of China on the east coast. They were sentenced to death by hanging on charges of espionage by the Dongfang County People's Court, just three days before their arrival. Hearing this, Julian and the others' faces became even more gloomy.

Xu Xin and the other three went straight to the administrative building to report to their respective departments.

The three-person business delegation brought back a large amount of valuable first-hand information on business, agriculture and society from Bordeaux, and the Ministry of Industry and Commerce, the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the General Directorate of National Intelligence jointly participated in their debriefing report and obtained a lot of valuable information, which enabled the travelers to have a certain understanding of the current social ecology of the Gascony region in the southwest of France, at least in the Gascony region, which is a very useful reference for the Council and the Executive Committee when making corresponding decisions.

After the debriefing of the three Xu Xin, the members of the Executive Committee gathered again and held an extraordinary meeting to discuss the information they had brought back.

The complex socio-ecological and local economic model of France has greatly impacted the thinking of the members of the Executive Committee. It turned out that everyone knew that it might be difficult to sell cotton cloth there, but they didn't expect the local situation to be so complicated. Simple business is mixed with too many factors, making it almost impossible for foreign goods to move in the local area under the stubborn resistance of a well-developed small-scale peasant economy, closed tariff barriers, and strong local protectionism.

In order to break this blockade, it is necessary to use a large number of cheap and high-quality commodities with the cooperation of local agents to break through and disintegrate the original local economic order, but this will also cause more serious social problems, which will inevitably attract the attention and hostility of high-level French officials.

On the other hand, this populous region with a high spending power is the coveted dumping ground for commodities in the Eastern Coast Republic. With a population of about 1 million people in the Gascony region alone and nearly 20 million in France, it is no exaggeration to call it the largest country in Europe. Such a market is grasped, and theoretically the annual consumption of cotton cloth is between a few million and ten million horses, and the total profit during this period is unimaginable.

"How? Let's talk about it, anyway, I think the risk is not small, but the benefits are also amazing. Ma Qianzu looked at the other committee members and took the lead in speaking.

"What else? Head on! Prime Minister Ma Jia, who is known as the "horse cannon", said. He was one of the members of the Central Committee who advocated the development of the textile industry and the leather processing industry, and now the leather textile industry has not improved due to the lack of raw materials, but the textile industry, especially the cotton textile industry, has risen with a clear trend, and he is naturally very happy.

"What can we lose?" "In the face of a market that conserves 300,000 pieces of cotton cloth a year, what else can we hesitate about? If we don't give it a try, then we will never have a chance. If we win, it goes without saying that the huge profits every year can feed our whole country with great nourishment; If we fail, we won't lose anything, at most the market is closed to us for the time being, and we can pat ourselves on the back and go somewhere else to continue our business. ”

"I agree with the vest." Tang Yuan, who was in charge of finance, was the first to respond, and he has always spared no effort to support this kind of thing that can make a lot of money. "But I would like to add that the French must not agree to the request of the French to visit the factory and to build a joint venture with us, because this is our golden job to make money, and there is no room for negotiation. If they steal our technical intelligence, then with our current comprehensive strength, it is likely that we will not be able to defeat them. ”

"It's nature." The other members also nodded.

"I have a little to add." Xiao Mingli, who is in charge of civil affairs, said, "Xiao Xu of the Ministry of Trade discussed with the French about immigrating those bankrupt French textile workers, and this matter should also be cautious." More than 5,000 workers, even if only a third were willing to come to our East Coast, would greatly undermine our current demographics. We must be cautious about this matter, we must not accidentally artificially create a certain ethnic group with a large population, which will be very troublesome. ”

"We now have a total population of more than 9,800 people, of which the number of Charua and Guarani is close to 2,500, and we have reached the danger warning line and must be controlled. In the same way, immigrants, bankrupt French workers, should also be cautious not to repeat the mistakes of the past. Xiao Mingli continued.

"Ahem, don't go off-topic." Ma Ganzu coughed and said: "I see that everyone's opinions are also very unanimous, so let's deal with this matter like this, Lao Gao, you are responsible for this matter, talk to the French and dispel their unrealistic thoughts." ”

Gaumo nodded.

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